Anorexia, Aging and Two-Day-Old Croissants

It'd be a better joke if the sign said "ask our girls what they think!"

Over the past week I have, in no particular order, watched a documentary on anorexia (THIN), had my hair highlighted with blonde dye, and read a few chapters of the book that keeps showing up in the comments, This Chair Rocks.

The common thread among these three is, obviously, your looks may influence how you feel about yourself and will definitely influence what other people think about you.

This Chair Rocks by Ashton Applewhite (evidently her real name) takes aim at ageism, which is a pattern of behaviour -- like all the other "isms" -- where people assume bad things about other people based, among other things, on how they look.

Applewhite shows with lots of studies and research that the facts about old people prove the assumptions wrong. Old people are mentally nimble (just forgetful), can sustain muscle mass and vigour (though, you know, less than when they were 25), and are often happier than they have been their whole lives (no qualifier on this one; this is completely true).  

I'm a ready convert to the gospel Applewhite is preaching. All you have to do is watch a documentary about anorexia and see what a horrible burden being young (and female) can be.  

I wanted to recommend Applewhite to the 59-year-old man who fretted about his retirement as he put the highlights in my hair. Accentuating the positive, I told him about my trip to Paris, and the small pleasure of eating two-day-old croissants for breakfast. He missed my point that even stale Paris croissants are delicious and asked instead, "Weren't you worried you'd gain weight?"

Maybe Applewhite. Maybe THIN.

Thanks for reading!

Karen

Much older than me:
Roman rampart in Tours